Cell Shapes Of Chick Embryo Fibroblasts Cultured In Two- And Three-Dimensional Conditions

Abstract

Introduction Normal animal cells in culture display correlation between mitotic activity and degree of spreading on substratum (Iwig et al. 1995). The research concerning this topic has been performed on standard twodimensional cultures where the cells were extended only in one plane. Therefore it was unknown whether cells grown in tree-dimensional conditions and capable of spreading in many planes need the same degree of spreading as the cells in standard cultures to reach the same mitotic activity. We aimed at solving this problem by means of the experimental model based on chick embryo fibroblasts culture in multicellular sheets extended between glass wool fibres. We have estimated the spreading degree of the cells growing inside the sheets, in standard monolayer cultures and in suspension, and compared them with the mitotic activity of the cells cultured in these conditions. Methods Chick embryo fibroblasts cultured in suspension on agarose layer, in spar